


Love, All Alike

by mimesere



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Spoilers for the appendices
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-20
Updated: 2014-07-20
Packaged: 2018-02-09 16:00:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1989036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mimesere/pseuds/mimesere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>And they lived happily ever after to the end of their days.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love, All Alike

**Author's Note:**

> Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime / Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time -- John Donne

There is perhaps no love as sweet and as bitter as love remembered during long winter dusks, where light is soft but not faded, and memory is as warm and as palpable as the last coals of a fire.

Eomer passes in the autumn and Merry is at his side. He sits and talks of nothing the big people might find too terribly important; he chatters on about pipeweed and of the changing of seasons while beside him Pippin does very little but stare at the fire and tell his own stories. They are a great one for stories, the Rohirrim, and in that, as in so many other things, they are kin to the hobbits.

"And so, of course, my sister Pervinca was having none of it and she clouted Merry in the head and he fell right over, if you can believe it." Merry clouts Pippin in the head, and Pippin does not fall but says quietly, fondly, "No need for that, is there?"

Merry slides his hand over Pippin's mouth and tells him to shush. "I don't think my childish exploits are the stuff of bedside stories."

"Oh but they are, Merry," Pippin says earnestly. "Or else I have cheated Faramir terribly."

"You did not, Pippin."

"I did. Those were his favorites."

Merry is horrified. "I hope he visited you with as much trouble as you did me."

Pippin waves a hand and smiles. "Oh, hardly that. You were a terror, Meriadoc Brandybuck and you quite led me astray."

"I have never heard such a pack of lies in all my life," says Merry. "You must not believe him, my lord. The Tooks are known to exaggerate."

"You are a Took by blood and so you must be exaggerating about the family tendency to tell lively stories."

They are too old to scuffle as they did, and this is no place to do so besides. Merry contents himself with a glare and Pippin does not even have to courtesy to look the slightest bit embarrassed. And so the days pass in the Mark, until Eomer is gone and Elfwine becomes king of Rohan.

Winter follows them into Gondor and settles into their bones and in their blood. Elessar welcomes them home, with kisses on each cheek and a hearty meal, besides. He has not forgotten the hobbits or their love of food and drink and song. Nor have they forgotten the pipe of Aragorn, who was Strider and their guide. Pippin bears behind him a small barrel of Longbottom leaf, a gift from the Thain and the Master and the Mayor, from friends.

"Well met, Master Peregrin," Elessar says, laughing, and they are waited on by noble pages. Pippin has dug out his old livery, tree and stars picked out in silver, and it surprises Merry that it still fits.

But then, his own armor had fit as well, though snugly, when he stood by the grave of Eomer king and threw a white flower onto the first mound.

We are none of us changed so much, Merry thinks.

Pippin's white hair speaks to the lie in that, but his grin is as quick and bright as ever, and Merry finds comfort in the familiar faces around him. He can wish for Gandalf and for dear old Frodo and Sam, who has risen higher than anyone could have dreamed, and for Bilbo who started the whole thing, but they are far out of his reach and long life has taught him to hold firmly to what he has.

He and Pippin stay the night, and for many nights after, in the company of old friends. Winter settles in and the hearth fires are lit, and it seems accepted by those that matter that Merry and Pippin shall not see the Shire again.

Pippin tells him, "I'm tired. Way down deep, like I couldn't ever sleep long enough."

Merry finds a smile inside him, in that place where Pippin has always lived. "I know," he says, and he does.

Then, quietly, Pippin says, "I would have liked to see old Treebeard again."

Merry leans over and puts his hand on Pippin's knee. "Someone else will have to find the Entwives."

Pippin nods and covers Merry's hand with his own. "It's been a long road, hasn't it?"

"Yes, but a good one."

Pippin nods again. "I'm glad you're here with me, Merry," he says, and for the longest time, the only thing Merry hears is the cheery crack and snap of the fire.


End file.
